


The Wall Spirit

by Deepest



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Abduction, Angst, Brother Feels, Brotherly Bonding, Brothers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, Paranormal, Possession, Supernatural Elements, Uncertainty, or is it...?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-05-26 07:38:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14996024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deepest/pseuds/Deepest
Summary: There's a presence in McDuck Manor.Everyone has their theories.But only one has seen it's face.Huey Duck has been missing from bed.





	1. Observation and Research

**Author's Note:**

> This story follows the format I originally wrote it in on Tumblr.  
> It started out as a small little thing - a joke in the sense - but quickly grew.

One day in McDuck Manor all the household members meet to discuss the odd occurrences around the property in recent weeks.

_(They ask Duckworth, and the ghostman admits that he has nothing to do with the happenings)_

So they start swapping idea’s back and forth, right?

**Dewey** : It’s obviously a ghost.

**Webby:**   _Definitely_ or most  _probably_. It still could be something else. Like a demon.

**Scrooge:**  If it is, we’ll find out with careful observation.

**Louie:**  No, we should do more research to what it could be other than a ghost. Right, Huey?

**Huey:**  It’s a ghost or a demon.

**Louie:**  You’re agreeing? That’s surprising.

**Webby, confused:** I thought you were out to disprove paranormal experiences, Huey.

  
**Huey, maintaining eye contact:**  I am a paranormal experience.

 

And he continues with the discussion like he hadn’t just said something really stupid cryptic and not without all the other kids staring at Huey as though he’s grown another head.

 

* * *

 

 

Of the duck kids, Louie is the only one who follows up on Huey’s weird comment after the meeting disbands.   
He claps a hand on his shoulder and plays it off the way he does since he’s awkward about encounters.

**Louie:**  Huey, that was almost funny! Hahaha, what the heck got into you?

**Huey:**  Haha, I don’t know! :D What got into me?

**Louie, two feet away:**  Haha. You tell me.

 

* * *

 

 

Right, so on that awkward F-sharp of a note, things in McDuck Manor proceed to get the kind of tense that is common and welcome in the household.

Webby and Huey take it upon themselves to research just what kind of spirit they could be dealing with in McDuck’s library. Louie and Dewey, meanwhile, help Gyro and Launchpad set up cameras and sensors around the manor to keep track of activity, and pinpoint its origination.

This proves to be only semi-successful after the first two nights with the manor under surveillance. As it turns out, the spirit, whatever it is, travels. And with the camera’s blinking off at certain points throughout the night they have only the sensors to try and figure out what the heck it’s trying to do.

Webby and Dewey, this being their first official not-Duckworth haunting, are excited to see what happens next. Louie, meanwhile is scared out of his wits at this point.

On the third night, he caves and ceases his restless tossing in bed to climb up and talk to his older brothers. Dewey has wrapped himself completely in his covers, so he climbs up to Huey’s bunk and.

He’s not there.

Louie doesn’t know what to think, because he’s been up all night and he certainly would have noticed his brother leave the room at some point.

His mind starts filling with possibilities, and he climbs back down to shiver under his own covers.

He resolves to ask Gyro for a spare camera. If only to try and prove himself wrong.

He tries to stay awake to wait for Huey to come back. He doesn’t, and Louie falls asleep before he can.

 

* * *

 

So with a new question on his mind, Louie decides to himself that he needn’t bother the bustling household with his concern until he knew for sure that his older bro was involved in some way.

The following evening he excuses himself from dinner for a few minutes and set’s up the spare camera he’s acquired on the top shelf of their bookcase, aimed at the top of the bunkbed.

He’s able to calm his nerves enough to fall asleep before midnight, finding a hint of solace in the uncertainty that plagues him believing that his questions would be answered come morning.

Come it does, and Huey gets up and gets ready with his brothers the same way he always does. Louie finds himself paying a lot more attention to the eldest, side-eyeing his reflection as he brushes his teeth. He hadn’t noticed in earlier days, but Huey appears more tired than he should be for just waking up.

During breakfast Gyro comes to the table with an update on the night’s activities. Same as usual, he says. No video evidence to the spirit of the manor, but the cutting-out of footage mapped out similar routes from previous night’s nonetheless. The activity had ceased at 5am, three hours before any of the family had woken up. 

There’s an unspoken agreement to not mention how spooky it is to be so unaware of whatever prowls the manor while they sleep. Louie thinks it to himself all the same.

It’s during lunch that he gets a chance to go over his own footage.

He fast-forwards through the night as he sits by the window in their bedroom, feeling the loom of the top bunk as he stares determinedly at the screen. He watches himself falling asleep sometime around 11:20, and Dewey tossing and curling up in his blankets looking more like  _he_ should be the one being monitored for paranormal behaviour. Huey sleeps calmly and restfully like he always has.

With hours passed and no strange occurrences, he begins to think himself silly.

But alas.

He’s audience to the same display as was common on the other cameras in the manor. A blink of blackness, and then the image restores itself.

Instead this time, Huey is gone.

Despite being so used to the display from monitoring other parts of the house he jumps, a shock buzzing through his system. He fast-forwards more until the screen blinks back again some time closer to 5am, and he then returns it to regular time. Huey sits up in bed and stares around the room for a while before laying back and staring at the ceiling until the time Louie himself wakes up.

Louie shoves the camera under his pillow and returns to his brothers. He keeps his hands in his pockets all day, because he’s sure they’d be shaking as he watches the back of his brother’s head whenever he turns.

 

* * *

 

 

Dewey, for one, is determined to make this whole experience into a downright enjoyable one.

He’d be lying if he said it wasn’t taking longer for him to go to sleep. Sometimes it feels like whatever it was is right outside his door, lingering in the walls and surrounding the room like a cat peers into a fishtank. But really, he’s excited to see what happens next.

Not much does change around the manor every morning after the haunting.  Sometimes a room feels colder than what it should be, and Dewey sticks around when that’s the case, calling whoever’s nearby to help him watch out for anything strange in the vicinity.

He’s taken to talking into open air, pretending like the spirit is an amicable Casper-esque ghost here as a casual observer. Huey tells him not to do this, and Louie always looks a little wide-eyed when the does. Dewey tones it down, but can’t help feeling like everyone is taking this far too seriously.

Because, well… Duckworth is a ghost, and he’s cool. And that one pirate ghost was banished to the afterlife with one clever play on words by Scrooge. How dangerous could it be?

On the fifth day of observation and research, Dewey joins Huey and Webby in the library. He strolls in and flippantly gestures at the neat stacks of books around them.

**Dewey:**  Hey, y’all! You guys look busy.

**Huey:**  Mhm.

**Dewey:**  You should take a break! Beakley’s not gonna like cleaning all this up as it is, why give her more work huh? Let’s go swim in the pool or something!

**Webby:**  Mr Duck’s boat is in the pool though, isn’t it?

**Dewey:**  So what? We can swim laps around it.

**Huey:** You know Uncle Donald doesn’t want us in there. He said we could get crushed.

Dewey blows a raspberry.

**Dewey:**  You’re no fun.

**Huey:**  Mhm.

**Dewey:**  So are you guys any closer to finding out who the ghost is?  _Was_ , I mean?

**Webby:** Actually from what we’ve found so far, the spirit seems closer to a demonic type. Or it could be Fae in origin. Huey’s looking into it now.

**Dewey:**  So, what? Fairies are turning our lights on and off? And what about the cold spots?

**Webby:**  That’s what we’re finding out. Right, Huey?

**Huey:**  Mhm.

Webby looks back up at Dewey with a satisfied smile.

**Webby:** He’s really focused on this. He’s made most of the calls so far. 

Dewey watches Huey turn 30 pages to somewhere in the dead centre of the thick book he’s reading.

**Dewey:**  That’s cool I guess.

If the spirit in the house does turn out to be bad, Dewey decides that he’s glad to have Huey and Webby on the case on finding out what it is and how to get rid of it. Nobody is more Nerd than his brother, and Webby is more reliable than anyone he’s ever known.

He hopes, though, that they’re proven wrong.

 

* * *

 

****  
  
Of the people involved in the Manor’s surveillance, Gyro is the least perturbed by what he calls the “malfunctioning” cameras.

Every day he twiddles with the wiring and rigging of the camera’s, trying to find where he’d made a mistake or what kind of interference could be causing the black-outs. He gets grumpier by the hour, and refuses to entertain the ghost theory even when his loyalty to Scrooge keeps him working on the surveillance.

He even admits, on the 6th day of observation, that he’d rigged up a record-keeper to track the activity of the main circuit board. His hypothesis being that the electric wiring he has the cameras plugged into, belonging to the manor, was to blame.

When the recordings came back green with no record of black-outs or hiccups from any of the manor’s generators, he became grumpier than ever.

**Gyro:**  It just switches off… 

He fiddles with the camera in the dining area, inspecting the jack and the chip closely.

**Gyro:**  But that can’t be right. But it just happens! How can it just happen?

Dewey looks up from his cereal bowl at the table, his mouth full and dripping milk, with a deadpan expression.

**Dewey:**  Ghostsh, mang. You gnever gnow how zhey work.

Donald forcibly grabs his small head and wipes a napkin across his beak, much to his protests.

**Donald:** All this ghost nonsense… It’s a demon, for sure… Stupid Scrooge and the gosh-darn bounty on his head… Never a plain day…

**Webby:**  Hey, hey. It might not be a demon! Huey and I are heading to the library today to find some books about Fairy lore and legend.

**Scrooge:**  Fairy? Are ye sure? I haven’t dealt with those devilish tricksters since my earlier days.

Webby shrugs.

**Webby:** It might still be a demon. But we couldn’t find enough in your library about Fairies to completely dispute them.

**Scrooge:**  Hmph. I’ll need to get back on the black book market. Expand some of the sections in there…

Gyro rolls his eyes from his step ladder and places the camera back into position.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s 9pm and time for the kids to go to bed.

And Louie is feeling all kinds of uneasy and confused, his legs tucked under his duvet and looking at the red brother sitting at the end of his bed.   
Huey’s legs are crossed underneath him and his beak is buried in one of the 6 library books he’d brought back with him earlier today. The remaining 5 settle heavily on the bottom bunk in a stack beside him.

He doesn’t look like he’s going to move. Yet the usual regime puts him first to be wrapped up in his blankets and ready for the night.

Dewey, after twiddling his thumbs for a few minutes after the clock ticked past 21:00, climbed up to the middle bunk and swaddled himself in the covers without an uttered peep.

And Louie, poor Louie, is reluctant to turn the lampshade off.

**Louie:**  Huey?

**Huey:**  Hmm?

**Louie:** It’s bedtime.

**Huey:**  Mn.

**Louie:**  You gonna…

He shifts restlessly in his spot.

**Louie:**  … go up to bed?

Huey doesn’t look up.

**Huey:**  Just gonna read for a while.

Louie doesn’t know what to do or say. He doesn’t want to sleep. He doesn’t want to stay up and listen first-hand to whatever might be outside the door.

He doesn’t want his brother sitting awake in the semi-darkness while he slips into slumber.

**Louie:**  …When are you gonna sleep?

Huey shrugs. Doesn’t look up.

**Huey:**  You sleep.

Louie is nervous. He can’t stop himself.

**Louie:**  I don’t think I  _could_ , though…

Huey finally looks up. His eyes look deep and open.

**Huey:**  …Why not?

Louie mumbles something that doesn’t mean much. His mouth is dry.

Huey sits in silence, looking at him. His pupils move minutely as the silence stretches.

**Huey:** Is it the light?

Louie lets out a tiny breath. Says Yes.

**Huey:**  I can turn it out, if you want.

_You won’t be able to read then._

**Louie:** No.

It comes out sharper than he’d intended.

Huey blinks.

Above, Dewey is quiet. It doesn’t mean much, since he’s not a snorer. But Louie can’t tell if he’s listening in.

**Louie:**  It’s okay. You can read.

He shuffles further under the cover as though to prove his resoluteness.

Louie turns to lay on his side, facing away from the wall. He can feel Huey’s eyes still on him.

**Huey:** You can turn the lamp off, I’ll use my penlight.

It’s all so formal.

**Louie:**  “You’ll ruin your eyes.”

He quotes his uncle half-heartedly. There comes a throaty chuckle. He turns the lamp light off.

There’s a click and he can see the faint traces of a light from the end of the bed in his field of vision as his eyes adjust to the darkness.

He closes them quickly.

 

* * *

 

 

Louie wakes up in his usual tangle of bed sheets, his legs and arms in awkward places. The sunlight through the crack in the curtains looks faint.

He feels warmer than he should for having kicked so much of the cover off himself in his sleep.

Between him and the wall, there’s a body.

A numb minute passes. He turns as well as he can without moving from his spot.

Huey looks very restful, laying on top of the covers. One arm is tucked snugly against Louie’s back.   
His breath escapes him in soft snores, and in the low light Louie can see some purple around his eyes.

Louie turns back to face the room with his face in his hands. Because for a solid minute he was scared paralyzed to have woken up next to his brother.

And how royally messed up is that?


	2. Questions, more Questions

7am finds Louie struggling to find an appetite for his bowl of frosted horseshoes.

Dewey sitting next to him digs into his own breakfast with the same gusto as usual, and when Louie chances a look past him at Huey he sees his eldest brother picking at his cereal with eyes that droop shut every two minutes.

In the lull that surrounds the table, Gyro’s daily arrival is a welcome change of pace. Everyone sits up a little straighter as the scientist announces that an anomaly had occurred during the night. Louie swallows the dryness in his mouth.

According to Gyro, his sensors had been unusually active. More frequent drops in temperature throughout the house and, more confusingly, no camera black-outs at all.

Gyro stubbornly insists that he must have found what the problem was with the camera’s, and they had only been performing the way they should have from the beginning.  

Meanwhile, Scrooge tries to hush the babble that arises between Donald, Dewey and Webby as they argue about what the anomaly could mean about their “haunting”.

Louie, meanwhile, is stuck. The footage he’d captured of his brother’s disappearance reels in his mind like a stutter.  
He tries to stop the thought, there is surely no connection at all, but he has to wonder - why had the black-outs stopped on the only night Huey wasn’t in his own bed?

In a way Louie is a little relieved. Maybe the disturbing thought of Huey popping out of existence while on Louie’s own bed can be discarded.

At the same time, he wishes he’d rigged up his camera a second time. He’d just not wanted to see the same thing happen twice.

On an impulse, Louie’s gaze darts to the triplet in question. Louie’s hands shake at the vacant stare his brother is giving to the placemat.

 

* * *

  
  
Dewey is a little concerned at this point.

It’s the middle of the day, and both Huey and Louie are doing their best to act like normal. But Dewey isn’t stupid.

Louie looks half scared out of his wits at any point in time these days. And Huey is off in La La Land for reasons Dewey can’t place.

He talks to Webby about it while she pours over her library books, and Webby admits she’s not sure what’s going on.

 **Webby:** Maybe Louie has been seeing the ghost? I mean, he kind of looks like he’s seen one.

Dewey is too excited by that prospect to wait another second. He sprints to his brother and Louie jumps about two feet off the ground.

 **Dewey:** _Did you see the ghost?!_

Louie’s white face goes stark and his eye’s wide. He looks honestly scared, and Dewey thinks as Louie stutters and mumbles and insists that he hasn’t seen anything that for being such a smooth talker, Louie can be a pretty terrible liar sometimes.

Dewey shoots his brother a meaningfully suspicious squint and makes his exit. Dewey wants to see the ghost. It’s the most exciting thing in their lives right now, since Scrooge banned adventuring until the hauntings stopped.

And until Dewey meets this ghost, he’s not gonna stop believing that Louie has something he’s hiding.  


 

* * *

 

Scrooge watches his Butler stir his tea. Duckworth, tried and faithful, know just how Scrooge likes it. Somehow he makes his tea better than Scrooge himself.

Scrooge is handed his tea, and contemplates the spirit in front of him as he leans back in his armchair and takes a careful sip.

 **Scrooge:** Say… Duckworth. Yeh wouldn’t happen teh know-

The ghost plops a plate of biscuits on the side table and looks at Scrooge with a stern sort of politeness.

 **Duckworth:** I’m _sure_ I don’t know what is going on in the house. As I’ve said before, sir, I’ve had _no part_ in this haunting.

 **Scrooge:** I _know_ that, old man. I just can’nae think of anythin’ else I can do about this. With Dewey searching the manor top to bottom, Gyro with his gizmos, and Huey and Webby in the books…

Scrooge pinches his brow, wracking his brain for any other way he can gather information.

 **Scrooge:** Yeh’ve got tae know _something_ …

Duckworth’s ghostly visage seems to look a tad apologetic.

 **Duckworth:** I’m sorry, sir. I’m at odds with spirits of _this_ kind. I’ll be of no help to you, I’m afraid.

Scrooge watches his butler fade into the floor before he does a double-take.

 **Scrooge:** _Duckworth!_ What did yeh mean “spirits of _this_ kind”? _What kind is it, Duckworth?!_ Agh, yeh blasted phantom…

He grumpily sips his tea while mulling over the implications of his Butler’s bizarre unhelpfulness in this matter. And as he sips, he shudders as a sudden coldness passes over his shoulders.

Scrooge glances behind himself. Just a wall.

He takes his tea and biscuits to the loveseat in the center of the room.

 

* * *

  
  
It’s bedtime again. Louie doesn’t know what to do.

Since lunch Huey has looked ready to pass out on any surface. Louie doesn’t think he’d last long on an actual bed.

 

Maybe Huey thinks the same thing. With covers tugged over him, Louie watches his brother _watch_ the top bunk.

 

Since this all started, Louie hasn’t been able to tell with confidence what his eldest brother is thinking.

In front of him, from this angle and in the low light of the bedside lamp, Louie thinks his Huey looks lost.

Huey gazes upward with the same vacant eyes Louie saw at breakfast. His face doesn’t twitch, and there’s not even a curl of his beak or a blink as Huey finally moves.

Louie lays transfixed as Huey oh-so-slowly steps up to the ladder.

And Louie looks on as he takes one step after another, climbing up as laboriously as if he has lead weights strapped to each hand and foot. Huey’s stare doesn’t waver.

As his brother disappears over the edge of Dewey’s middle bunk, Louie starts to feel cold.

He doesn’t want to sleep. But he also doesn’t want to be a witness.

He tries for the lamp switch four times before he flicks it off.

He swaddles himself up and shuts his eyes tight. He thinks of the camera watching the bunk bed from across the room.

 _Tomorrow_ , he thinks. _If it happens again, tomorrow._

 

He’ll tell someone.


End file.
